IN the 1600s and 1700s, an estimated 60,000 “witches” were executed throughout Europe. However, new research suggests a British woman convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to hang may have escaped the death penalty.
Alice Molland, believed to be the last woman hanged in England for being a “witch”, was sentenced to death in 1685. More than three centuries later, in 1996, a plaque was erected to commemorate her execution at the site of her sentence, Exeter Castle in Devon, southwest England.
However, after a decade of archival research, Professor of Early Modern History from the University of Southampton in England, Mark Stoyle, believes “Alice Molland” was actually Avis Molland who died a free woman in 1693, eight years after her alleged execution.
If the theory is correct, it means the British stopped executing “witches” three years earlier than previously believed. The last to be executed were the “Bideford three”: Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles, and Susannah Edwards, also from Devon, who were hanged in 1682.
Molland was hanged for “sorcery over the bodies of Joane Snell, Wilmott Snell, and Agnes Furze” in March 1685, according to court records.
He has long been a mystery to historians, with the only clue being his verdict marked with a wheel symbol and the words “susp[enditur]”, marking him for hanging. The verdict was rediscovered in 1891.
However, Stoyle believes the court officer may have misheard the defendant’s name. In 2013, he found references to Avis Molland that showed he was in prison just three months after “Alice” was sentenced. By scouring city records, Stoyle has reconstructed much of Avis’ life.
As part of Exeter’s “lower class”, according to Stoyle, Avis Molland, who was born Avis Macey, had already been in trouble with the law. In 1667, she and her husband, a roofer, were charged with enticing a child to steal tobacco. The case was eventually dismissed. He had three daughters, all of whom died in infancy.
In June 1685, Avis Molland appears in court records as an informant of a potential rebellion, when the Duke of Monmouth attempted to rebel against the king. He apparently gave evidence about a dangerous prisoner in Exeter prison.
When the prison is full of rebels, Stoyle believes Avis might get clemency. Avis Molland died a free woman eight years later. He was buried in the church cemetery of St. David, near the current train station.
Although he couldn’t prove Avis was Alice, Stoyle said Molland, whom he called “will’o the historiographical wisp,” was a prime candidate for accusation of witchcraft: poor, elderly, female, and alone. “They are generally poor women with no one to protect them,” he told CNN. “Sometimes they are more vocal or often fight with neighbors.”
A woman who is innocent, but meets the “criteria”
At least 500 “witches” were executed in England between 1542 and 1735, when witchcraft was a serious criminal offence, according to government figures, although historians believe the actual number could have been double. Scotland executed some 2,500 “witches”; across Europe it is estimated that up to 60,000 were executed.
These trials also spread to North America — most famously in Salem, Massachusetts, where 19 people were executed with many more dying as a result of torture and investigation.
Most are innocent women who simply meet the criteria. “It’s anti-women, anti-aging, and anti-disability,” said Stoyle, who added that the law was originally created out of paranoia that Catholics might use witchcraft to kill Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. “Ironically, the law it was originally aimed at for Catholic priests actually turned against ordinary women in the villages,” he said.
“They should have been freed in 1735,” said Charlotte Meredith, whose campaign, Justice for Witches, seeks to have British victims granted posthumous pardon as “formal recognition of grave injustice.”
John Worland, a retired police inspector from Essex, in southeast England, said that “we should never forget” the women’s stories.
Essex executed 82 people for witchcraft. Worland has spent 18 years digging up details of the victims, and successfully campaigned to erect memorials to executed “witches” in Colchester and Chelmsford.
“It’s almost always based on a dispute with a neighbor,” he said of the women. “They have been misunderstood throughout history.”
Stoyle will publish his findings in the November issue of the British Historical Association’s magazine, “The Historian.”
“Even if I’m completely wrong, this research has shed light on Avis Molland’s story,” he said. “She was a very simple woman who will never be remembered in any way.”
Someone less convinced is Judy Molland, who grew up the daughter of an Exeter Cathedral church clerk, and played a key role in the erection of plaques to four Devon women in 1996.
Molland, who learned about “Alice” in the 1970s and “angered” her father with the suggestion that they might be related, spent two summers researching her in the 1990s.
“I found interesting things but never found the name,” he said. He has written a novel that imagines Alice’s life.
“I firmly believe that there was someone named Alice,” he said of Stoyle’s discovery.
“And if it wasn’t Alice, there must have been other women accused of being witches. That’s the point.” (CNN/Z-3)
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**Interview with Professor Mark Stoyle on the Rediscovery of Alice Molland’s Fate**
**Interviewer:** Welcome, Professor Stoyle! Your recent research has sparked a lot of interest about Alice Molland, believed to be the last woman hanged for witchcraft in England. Can you tell us more about your findings?
**Professor Stoyle:** Thank you for having me! Yes, my research suggests that the woman we know as Alice Molland might have actually been named Avis Molland. This potential misidentification means she may have escaped execution and lived another eight years after her supposed hanging in 1685.
**Interviewer:** That’s fascinating! What led you to this discovery?
**Professor Stoyle:** It all stemmed from my decade-long archival research into court records and city documents. I located references to an Avis Molland, who appeared in records shortly after Alice’s alleged execution. Avis had a complex life, including involvement in a potential rebellion, which may have offered her clemency.
**Interviewer:** How does this change our understanding of witch trials in England?
**Professor Stoyle:** If Avis Molland is indeed Alice, it indicates that the last witch execution was three years earlier than previously thought—in 1682. This shifts our perception of the end of such trials, emphasizing the complexities of justice at the time, particularly as it relates to socio-economic status and gender.
**Interviewer:** You mentioned that many victims of witch trials were poor women. Can you elaborate on that?
**Professor Stoyle:** Absolutely. Many women accused of witchcraft, like Avis, were marginalized individuals—poor, elderly, and often living alone. They were easy targets for accusations, especially in tightly-knit communities where suspicion and rivalry could easily spiral into tragedy. This phenomenon reflects societal fears and misogyny prevalent in that era.
**Interviewer:** What do you hope people take away from this research?
**Professor Stoyle:** I hope to raise awareness about the historical injustices faced by women during the witch hunts. By understanding these patterns, we can recognize and challenge similar injustices in our society today. My work is part of a broader movement to give a voice to those who were wronged in history.
**Interviewer:** Thank you, Professor Stoyle! Your insights into this dark chapter of history are invaluable.
**Professor Stoyle:** Thank you for having me. It’s important we keep these conversations alive!
